WORKSHOPS & PANELS
Track I (Activate)- 9066 to 9/11: What Happens When Suddenly You Look Like the Enemy?
- Asian Americans: On the Screen and Behind the Scenes
- Lille Zeng
- Beyond Mainstream Media: The Blogosphere's Role in Uniting Asian America
- Diana Nguyen (DISGRASIAN)
- Brian Jian (8asians)
- Krishtine de Leon (GuerillaBusFare)
- Stephanie Wu (Mochi Magazine)
- Sondra Morishima
- From Words to Action: Building the Asian American Grassroots Political Movement
- Gender Expressions: Breaking the Binary
- Valerie Francisco (FiRE)
- Venancio Cabel (APiCHA)
- Calvin Sun (ECAASU)
- Shakthi Bhaskar (Columbia University)
- William Lee (betterasianman.com)
- Rising from the Trenches: The 1899 Philippine-American War and the War on Iraq
- Slanted, Sensationalized, Simplified and Skewed: Racism in the Media
February 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, resulting in the incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. While the government has since acknowledged this injustice and violation of civil liberties, some wonder if lawmakers have forgotten their mistakes all too soon. Our post-9/11 world has seen similar tactics and policies of mass deportations and detentions, this time aimed at Arab and Muslim immigrants in America. In a nation founded on equality under the law, the rights of “unwanted” immigrants stand on surprisingly shaky ground. Besides the legal repercussions, many have felt the change in society's perceptions towards immigrants and minority groups, including America's South Asian population, who have been the victim of numerous hate crimes since September 11th. Oftentimes, these incidents have not received the fair trial and treatment that they deserve, simply because of the racial implications. This workshop will delve into the complex relationship between the Japanese American experience and the those of today's South Asian, Arab, and Muslim Americans, and how violations of one minority’s rights affects the rights of all Americans.
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This workshop will tour the predominant levels of the filmmaking industry, beginning with a screening of Clarissa de los Reyes’s heart touching “Giving Care” that was featured in the 2008/2009 National Festival Tour. The film embodies and realizes the biggest fear immigrants face in leaving their home countries: not being home when a loved one, still in the home country, passes away. Following is a discussion involving Asian CineVision’s Outreach Coordinator Peter Wu and Operations Manager irene Cifra. Asian CineVision is a non-profit national media arts organization, empowering and allowing for further opportunities for the filmmaking Asian American population. These speakers will relay their own inspirational struggles and aspirations that brought each to his/her current position in the film world, as well as provide valuable insights into the filmmaking industry. The producer and actress from the film will be participating in the panel.
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With print publications hard-pressed to stay afloat, more and more Asian and Pacific Islander Americans are turning to the internet to build their own voice. Through weblogs, Asian Americans have found a vehicle that can spread awareness of AAPI issues and talents, pop culture, and news beyond geographic boundaries, as well as bring together communities traditionally separated by distance. Blogs move beyond traditional mainstream media – covering issues and stories that often wouldn’t be mentioned in a larger publication and challenging conventional viewpoints on race, gender, and other societal images, roles, and expectations. The panelists in this workshop will discuss how their own unique perspectives have shaped Asian America and how weblogs can be a medium for activism and inciting change in the way Asian Americans are viewed through the media.
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For years, Asian Americans have discussed why it is so critical for our community to participate in the democratic process. Whether rookies or veterans of Asian American activism, many of us have heard the familiar refrain of the challenges and shortcomings of our community when it comes to politics.
But with recent events and elections raising AAPi political awareness, participation, and voter turnout to record levels, it is becoming increasingly important for our community to move beyond discussing WHY we must participate to HOW we can make a difference. One key approach that has gained attention in the last few election cycles is grassroots organizing. The growing power of youth and technology reveals our community’s potential to have an enormous impact on political movements.
This workshop will discuss how Asian Americans have recently harnessed grassroots strategies to make our voices heard and how our community can take things to the next level.
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The popular idea that there are two distinct groupings of gender, with everyone falling neatly into one or the other, is simply nothing but a social construction. There is a broad middle ground that goes unaccounted, as every person is perceived to fall under one of two “checkboxes”. Not only does one’s speech and mannerisms influence this perception, but mere appearance is a sure instant telltale “sign” for classification: male or female. How does this affect APi/APi Americans? What are the tools that we need to strike down stereotypes? Why is this “clear-cut” mode of classification problematic for the APi community? Panelists ranging from various gender identities will lend perspectives in navigating the gender binary into more than just a spectrum and breaking down barriers set by society.
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The brutal 1899 Philippine-American War has been consigned to footnote status in mainstream U.S. history. Known, inaccurately, as the “Philippine Insurrection,” this bloody, three-year-long war—coming after the 1898 Spanish-American War—has been studiously ignored. Its invisibility means that the Filipino-American experience is inadequately contextualized, and its role as a template for American foreign policy overlooked. The rationale for today’s conflict in Iraq, for example, echoes that for the Philippines more than a century ago.
The war enabled the United States to become a major player in Asia, rendering it a challenge to Imperial Japan in World War II and leading to involvement in the Korean and Vietnam wars. To understand both the origins of the Filipino diaspora and the militarization of U.S. foreign policy, we therefore need to comprehend this war and its consequences, and thereby gain much-needed perspective in assessing “official” American narratives.
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In recent years, celebrity figures ranging from Rosie O’Donnell and Miley Cyrus to the Spanish Olympic basketball team have been guilty of perpetuating racist stereotypes of Asians. These representations existed before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and continue to circulate through various forms of media as a way to contain and control the perceived image of “Asians” as a threat to a “wholesome and homogeneous” America. in this panel, we will explore how these seemingly harmless incidences of racism and essentialization of Asians negatively affect the individual Asian American identity & the community as a whole. Come discuss why it is important to address and conceive productive responses to these seemingly isolated incidences of racism in all information mediums. How can we, as Asian Americans, work to combat, rather than perpetuate these representations? The individuals on this diverse panel have expertise in various facets of mass media and will share their experiences and thoughts on how we can ensure that these issues are addressed to promote healthy and constructive depictions of Asian Americans in the media.
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